Broken Puzzle
by darkstarnowhere
Summary: When the second generation of Digidestined are teleported to the gameroom of a particularly strong Digimon and his more evil female counterpart, what will they do? Focus on 02 characters with a strange twist! Read & review, please!
1. Chapter 0 - Leave

Um... Hi. Yes, it's more Digimon. I have an unhealthy obsession, I think. Anyway, read the story- it's not much, but what can you expect from someone with a small ego and little writing talent? 

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, now would I?

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Chapter Zero

Leave

"Can't we use other subjects? I'm sure I could find some alternate intelligent ones that-" 

"No." The messenger cringed at the sound of her voice. "We must use _these_ subjects. Tell my superior to transport them directly to the test area." 

"...But my lady...he said that it's not a good idea to use them. He specifically instructed the test to be used on those from this world only, and they are _not_! It may cause a malfunction."

Quietly, the reclined, shadowed figure murmured to herself. As an afterthought, she extended her left hand towards the harbinger as a small flame appeared on the index finger. Immediately, he was down on his knees.

"No! My lady, I will tell him your wishes at once! I may still be of use!" The tiny flame dissipated as her hand was withdrawn.

"True. Tell him I don't care, and that the project has begun. Also, go to Black Gatomon and Tsukaimon's chambers, and tell each to be ready for my commands." There was a pause as she surveyed the digimon laying with his forehead touching the floor, watching him submit in complete inferiority. "You are dismissed." Power was good.

"Yes milady." He stood, bowed, and turned to leave. A fleeting thought passed through her mind, to shoot him in the back as he walked toward the chamber door, but she suppressed it. There would be plenty of time for backstabbing later.

------------------------------------

He lowered his head into his hands, groaning. The plans were giving Davis Motomiya a headache. "I don't get it. Weren't we just going to scout it out to make sure everything was in order?" 

"Yes, but that was before the recent news received from Tentomon, right Izzy?" The red-haired computer expert looked up from the screen he was working at.

"Right, Kari. From what I can attain, he said something about strange fogs over the water and thick clouds over the forests, or so he heard from Gomamon. Also, strange symbols have been appearing all over, in the forest on trees, and in the sand on the beaches. He heard that they also appear glowing beneath the surface of the water. So if the information is correct, everything is _not _okay."

The group traded glances. "So what are we supposed to do?" Yolei Inoue questioned. "If they couldn't figure it out, how can we?"

"You'll have to go in there. Sorry I can't give you anymore information." He shrugged and turned back to the computer. 

"Yay! We're going on a trip!" Patamon and DemiVeemon jumped up and down, causing everyone else to sweatdrop. 

"Good luck." Davis stood and grabbed his D-3 and looked backwards towards the seated speaker while holding it outward towards the screen.

"We probably won't need it. We can take care of anything and everything." Davis had no idea he'd spoken too soon. A sickly green light enveloped everyone as they were rapidly drawn into the computer. 

Koushirou 'Izzy' Izumi's eyes widened at the color of the light, but couldn't question it to an empty room. He leaned back in his chair. "Either they're getting new taste in colors," he sighed, " or I think this is the beginning of some horrible adversity and I shouldn't have let them go..." Knowing it was the latter, he sighed. "Why don't we ever stop them when we can?"

------------------------------------

Kari felt the usual pull of the port, but something felt different than normal. A part was missing to the digital puzzle, and she screamed into the black space, devoid of all life, alone. 

"Gatomon!" 

She was losing direction, a mere puppet, not knowing who was pulling the strings. Reaching out, she found nothing. A smothering pressure covered her mouth, the blood was rushing to her head, and her vision blurred. As her feet suddenly hit solid ground, her legs gave out and she collapsed.

Similarly, the rest of the chosen sprawled nearby, all unconscious. Above the fallen bodies, a presence laughed evilly. Games could be fun with these six children.

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Author's Notes

Hmm. Well, this is interesting. That last segment was actually spur-of-the-moment, and I think it might just work out. I might actually finish this story.

Daiko: Fat chance of that happening.

P-Kaal: *nods head in agreement* Yup. I can't think of _any_ finished computer-based stories. 

... I can kick you two out of my house...

Daiko: You can't kick us out, we're your muses. 

P-Kaal: Besides, we'd come back anyway.

You can do that? O_o 

Story Note: To all the readers out there, please help me by either e-mailing me (or writing in the review section) ideas you have for upcoming puzzles. My imagination isn't that big, and I'm not about to go pilfering others' stories. Who knows, you may see your idea in the story. You supply the core, and I'll do the hard stuff. I'll need 3 per chapter, so... help me. Please? ;_; I feel stupid today. 


	2. Chapter 1 - Separation

Welcome to chapter 1. I'm surprised you had enough interest to keep reading, but I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth... Not that you're a horse or anything... Err, onward!

Story Note: {braces} indicate thinking.

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Chapter 1

Separation

The stifling pressure he'd felt before was gone now as he slowly regained consciousness. The room swam into view and he closed his eyes as the stark white light suddenly tore into his vision. A figure was standing over him—

"Hey, Davis!" An oddly familiar voice was attached to the dark shape, but tendrils of sleep remained around him, unwilling to let him go. "Wake up, stupid!"

Numbly, Davis pushed away the person standing above him, who persistently reached down and slapped him. 

"Get up!" 

Rubbing his cheek, he opened his eyes and stared angrily at T.K. "Ow." Then realization dawned in his eyes as he remembered what had happened. "Where are we? Where are the others? What happened? What's going on?" 

Grimly, T.K. shrugged and gestured behind him. Their friends lay in grotesque positions as if their bodies had been dumped or thrown from a height onto the floor. No one seemed to be injured, but none were awake. 

"Wait, where are the Digimon?" For the first time, Davis noticed that all non-human partners were gone. 

"They've been taken, is my guess. Why are you asking me? I know about as much as you do!" A frustrated edge was creeping into his voice.

That shut him up. 

The next few hours passed in silence as each person woke. Yolei first, quickly followed by Kari, who tearfully wondered where Gatomon was. Cody woke half an hour later and immediately began to brood, and Ken was last. Eventually, Kari asked the question on everybody's mind. 

"Where are we?" There was a sharp intake of breath. Something happened that made her heart skip and a sick feeling rise in her stomach.

"You are inside my prison." The silence that followed echoed as much as the voice had. Eyes wide, they glanced at each other.

"W-Why are we here?" Yolei squeaked almost inaudibly.

What ever it was heard her. "You are entertainment for me, and I shall truly enjoy this. You are to perform a small 'quest' and if you prove that you can survive it, then I _may_ let you go. I you can't then, well, you won't have to worry about it if you don't survive it." The disembodied voice sounded slightly amused.

"If, at the end, all six of you are still standing, or at least alive, then one of you will die."

Cody, for once, looked his age. He was staring wide-eyed at where the ceiling would have been. "You'd kill one of us?"

"No." It paused, as if wondering how to phrase the next sentence. "Yes. But you will have the direct effect. You all will decide who will lose their life."

"But...we can't chose who'll die! That's not fair!" Kari trembled and tears began welling up in her eyes.

"You will chose!" A different voice, female, but filled with venom and malice replied. "If you do not, you will _all _die!" 

Lifting his head, Davis stood up and glared defiantly upwards. "You can't do this! Give us our partners back; we're not doing your stupid quest."

"Yes, yes I can. Unlike you, the Digimon are safe. And Kari, Yolei, Cody, Ken, T.K., thank your dear friend here," the coy female voice continued, "because of his impudence, you will no longer be able to solve this assignment together. Arrangements are already being made..." there was a dramatic pause and a condescending chuckle, "...for you each to be with the person you hate the most."

Before any could utter their disgust, each found solid walls blocking the others from view. 

And he knew, even before he turned around, who would be behind him. "_You!_"

Standing behind him, wearing the same appalled look on his face, was T.K. 

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Cody was frustrated. He wanted to go home. He wanted Armadillomon. He wanted his mom. He wanted his grandpa. Hell, he wanted _prune juice_ more than he wanted to be stuck with _him_. He sighed. The entity was right. He _was_ with the person he hated the most.

Stuck in a gray room, with no doors, no windows, and no other possible means of escaping, the two boys stared off in opposite directions, refusing to make eye contact. 

The large digimon sighed. "Might as well make it easy for these two. They're hopeless." 

"But sir, there's no fun in that!" She seemed almost hurt, but he'd learned to see through the facade.

"If we don't, they will never begin the quest." 

"True, they harbor nothing but hatred in their hearts toward each other. I suppose just this one time... but I hope you're not going to help them very often." 

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She blinked. {Why..?} Looking up, she found the same question mirrored in the deep ruby eyes of her partner. {This can't... be happening... Why am I with Kari?}

"Yolei? What's going on?" She looked around curiously, unsure of what to think.

"I...I don't know." {I _don't_ know, do I?}

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"Yes, me. It appears that whatever is doing this is very wise indeed." He balled his fists, ignoring the nails digging into his palms. "However, this is all your fault, Davis." He fought to keep his voice steady. "Had you not been so quick to _idiocy_, this never-"

Davis held up a hand. "I'm not going to fight with you. This 'quest' was obviously made to either start fights or bring rivals closer together, and I for one, feel it's the latter. So spare me this, and I'll leave you alone, okay?"

T.K. blinked. He'd never heard a rational thought from Davis, let alone a comprehensive sentence. Out of no reason but that he was awed, he stopped and simply stared at the brunette. 

A small opening 'formed' at the far end of the enclosure; 'formed' is truly the correct word, for previously there had been no possible way out, it had been purely... gray. 

"I guess when we came to terms, the portal formed." Davis shrugged as he walked over to inspect the large hole in the floor. 

Left behind in the middle of the room, the blonde couldn't help but wonder, {Inspecting? Not blindly rushing into things? What did that weird, spiky-haired kid do with Davis?}

Of course, that was the minute the subject chose to jump down the hole, extinguishing the belief that he'd been kidnapped by aliens.

{Same old Davis.} T.K. shortly followed.

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Ken, shortly, gave up watching his partner, who was currently examining the wall with a false fervor. It didn't seem worth the trouble.

{I figured I'd get stuck with T.K., but I suppose he's got his hands full with Davis...} Wondering if the voice could be taken seriously, he stood. Across the room, an odd sound caught the attention of both occupants of the room. 

At the same time, they crossed to the small shaft, not really knowing what to do; the darkness of its receding path was out of place in the monotone room. Briefly, their eyes met before Cody's were again downcast, and Ken sighed. 

Slowly, he lowered himself into it and let go, feeling as though his life was slipping more and more from his fingers.

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"Hey Yolei..." The other girl was watching her. "Why do you think we got chosen to be together? I mean, it's not like we hate each other, or anything." 

Yolei looked at her and nodded slightly, to show she'd heard.

Kari smiled brightly. "Don't take this too hard. We'll get out of here, I'm sure of it. We can all work together, even apart. The Digidestined _can_ do this." 

Even with those reassuring words, Yolei's stomach lurched along with her body as she stood and walked towards a hole large enough only for a person to go through. As her companion jumped down, her form retreating into the murky depths below, she wondered who everyone else was accompanied by. With no other choice left, she reluctantly followed.

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Author's Notes

Yay, fun fun. This story is getting stranger as more ideas pour from my head. Questions? Comments? Criticism? Write a stupid review! Thank you.

Daiko: Y'know, sugar isn't good for you this late at night...

I haven't had any sugar, and it's 5:30 in the afternoon. O_o What are you talking about?

Daiko: *checks watch, then feels forehead* Going back to sleep... Think I'm sick...

*is too busy cursing the o key on the keyboard to pay attention* You're an odd cookie, Daiko. An odd, strangely shaped cookie.

P-Kaal: That's what you get for being awake during the day... *snores softly*


	3. Chapter 2 - Maze Confusion

Wow, weird. I can't believe I made it to chapter 2 already... who's been typing on my computer? I know I couldn't have already finished both chapters 0 and 1. Well, hopefully this is going to be a better chapter than the others, I know they stink. Also, if any characters get injured, don't get flustered, it happened for a reason. Yea! Onward!

Note: {braces} indicate thinking.

I've also added notes to which protagonist group it is. 

++++++++++++

Chapter 2

Maze Confusion

When one falls into a dark hole, you would expect to fall downwards. However, the feeling Davis felt was not one of a normal gravitational field, as he was falling _sideways_. He toppled out of the tunnel, rolling slightly. His partner dropped next to him and moaned loudly.

"Why don't normal things ever happen in the Digital World?"

Davis stood, dusting his clothes off, and shrugged. "It _is _the Digital World, nothing normal ever happens here. You've been coming here longer than I have, why are you asking me?"

T.K. narrowed his eyes, but made no comment.

Davis, oblivious as usual, began to examine the opening in the wall behind them. At the far end, he could see a tiny speck of light, presumably the room they'd been in before. As far as he could tell, it was a straight path, and he was halfway in the hole when his companion called his name.

"Davis, look at this." He grabbed the tan pants by the waistband, yanking both them and the wearer out of the opening.

"Hey!" He turned to motion for a moment. "Could you wait?" Not bothering to mask the irritability in his voice, he turned back around to find... nothing. The hole was gone. The only blemishes were scratches on the gray wall, scratches either made by someone in extreme terror, or by some odd digital monster that neither of them wanted to meet. "...Wha? B-but, wait- the hole-where...how...Wha?"

"Forget it."

"But that was our only way out!" Davis clenched his fists and looked down. "Now whose fault it if we can't get out?"

"Never mind that now. You said yourself, it _is_ the Digital World, nothing normal ever happens here." Davis frowned at the mocking tone of his voice. "If you would pay attention, you'd realize that we have more important things to think about, like the other way out." 

Though he hadn't been looking at Davis through the conversation, he now examined the bewildered look on the auburn haired boy's face as the latter took the liberty of observation. It appeared to be one of the two entrances to a large maze, which they clearly had to go through. 

"Do you want to split up? You could take the left, and I'd take the right," Davis suggested, though the thought of leaving his partner sent shivers down his spine. {Please say no, please say splitting up is a bad idea, just say I'm wrong. I don't want to do this alone.} 

"No. If your supposition is correct, then we have to work together for this. I'd take you up on your offer, but we'd best stick together."

Davis let out a sigh of relief. {I'd rather be with Kari or Ken, but at least I'm not with Yolei. Blondie's not _too_ bad.} At the same time, both parties snorted at the prospect of them working together. "So, do you want to go in?"

"Ladies first." T.K. bowed, and Davis hit him on the back of the head. 

"We're taking the left side, whether you like it or not. Let's go." Davis entered, ignoring the hair standing up on his neck.

His partner said nothing but rubbed his head and smiled. {I don't know how we'll survive this, but with our determination for independence, we'll manage.}

--------------------2: Yolei & Kari--------------------

"Ow!" She couldn't help but exclaim as she hit the dusty floor. Landing next to Kari, who was already sitting up, she rubbed her head gingerly, massaging the lump that was forming. "Nobody thinks about the treatment of women around here, do they?"

Kari giggled. "You sound like Mimi!" 

Eyes shining like stars, Yolei clasped her hands together. "Really?"

"Yep! Re-Oh!" The smile on Kari face disappeared as she witnessed the hole closing, like Jell-O reforming. The glimpse of the tiny point of light being shut off crushed something in her heart as she realized that they were prisoners. 

"Well, I guess that means we won't be getting out of here anytime soon," She said sadly, "or at least not through that hole."

"Maybe we have to go that way." Yolei pointed behind Kari.

The brunette spun around, temporarily mesmerized by the expanse of wall extending beyond her range of sight. "How long has that been there?"

"I don't know..." She took a step then stopped. "Which entrance should we go through?"

Kari closed her eyes, concentrating. Her partner simply watched, confused. 

{Concentrate harder...} A breeze with an unknown source blew by, causing the girl in front of her to shiver. A light from beneath the digital camera lit up her face, and as Kari's hair blew upwards, she opened her eyes. 

"We go right."

Yolei stared. "What the hell was _that_?"

--------------------3: Ken & Cody--------------------

{Where are we, really? What are we supposed to do? Who is responsible? Are we supposed to survive?} The questions plaguing his mind couldn't detract his attention from the silence. Ken swore he could hear someone else's voice underlying the utter stillness.

"Well?"

He jumped, not expecting the absolute quiet to shatter into a million pieces as it did. Cody's voice echoed loudly, and it made him wonder if the others could here it, wherever they were. Looking over, he realized the shorter boy was glaring at him impatiently from the entrance to the left. 

Wordlessly, Ken took a step inside and froze. Something was pulling him inwards. Not physically, but in a way he'd been manipulated before.

"_Come..._"

He backed out, shaking.

Standing a bit in front of him, Cody watched with calm green eyes. He didn't really care what his partner was doing as long as it wasn't fatal. He needed a scapegoat to stay alive. 

The brunette took a few more steps inward, and then he found what had made Ken avoid it. 

Unseen tendrils of evil curled around his legs and a saponaceous voice called to him from far away.

"_Come... Take my darkness..._" The voice began a melody before Cody could clamp his hands over his ears.

"Leave me alone!" Startled again by the small boy's voice, Ken whirled around to see him clutching the sides of his head. 

Quickly, the blue haired boy grabbed his wrist, pulled him roughly through the right side entrance, turned the corner, and kept running. 

Cody stumbled along as they ran, his short legs unable to match his partner's pace. His complaints were torn from his mouth and tossed to the wind as they continued.

"We can stop running now! Let go of me!" Nothing caught the gray-clad boy's attention until Cody, in his efforts to keep up, tripped and fell, wrenching his arm from his partner's grasp. The latter reached down to help him up, but the withering stare from his verdant eyes was enough to make the hand drop to it's position at it's owner's side.

Each took a minute to gain what bearings he could, the younger standing and dusting himself off. One thing they both realized, violet and green eyes alike: they were utterly, hopelessly lost.

--------------------1: Davis & T.K.--------------------

They were utterly, hopelessly lost. Having chosen the left path, the unseen darkness was becoming a tangible reality. Time after time, Davis found himself facing a dead end. Usually he would be made fun of, by both his partner and what seemed to be a laughing voice that he just couldn't find the source of.

But, as that darkness pressed in on them, the insults stopped and the energy drained from them; they began to quiet down.

"I knew from the start this was a bad idea," T.K. whispered, shaking his head. "We should have gone the other way."

Davis stopped and the blonde almost ran into him. "You sensed it too?"

"What, you mean the creepy feeling?"

He nodded a tacit affirmative.

"What about the singing?" 

He grinned in response and ran shaking fingers through his cinnamon hair. "Actually, I'd thought it was all in my head. I hear things sometimes, you know."

T.K. sweatdropped ever so slightly. "Okaay..."

Davis ignored him, leaning against the wall casually. "Maybe we should go back. I think it's getting darker." He'd opened his mouth to respond when something caught them both off guard. Something that made them turn to ice as the undulation of a slow, sad aria began.

Take my darkness

Make it your light

Many ways to fight me

Only one is right

Don't face me now

But face me later

Face me, rather, when 

Your strength is greater

You could over come me 

With the secrets you hold

Stay clear of me 'till the time

Those secrets may be told

The right path 

Is the way to the center

For I am the enemy

The end of the line

The pair stood rooted to the spot as the melody ended. The slow lilting lyrics ceased and they stared around in wonder. 

T.K. began moving backwards. "Yes, we definitely should have taken the other path."

Davis bumped into him in the semi-darkness. "That last line didn't even rhyme!" He snorted indignantly.

"But she said that if we go that way-"

"She?" Davis interrupted.

"Do you think it was a guy?" There was no answer, only the shuffling footsteps from the general direction.

After a long stretch of silence, he spoke. "It's darker now." Neither could see well, but he was sure his blond partner rolled his eyes.

"Thank you, Mr. Obvious." There was more silence before he heard Davis step up behind him. 

"Take my hand." T.K. started at the sound of the boy's voice so close to his ear, and felt a hand slip into his own. Davis started moving forward, leaving T.K. no choice but to follow behind, stepping carefully.

"Can you see? How can you find the way out?" They seemed to be moving with a purpose, as though the boy guiding him could either see or at least knew where he was going.

"Uh, no. Actually I just remember which directions we turned, so I just flip it around and walk the opposite way. Simple, really." The amazement he felt at finding out that the ditzy boy had a rational, sensible, and intelligent side kept him silent for the rest of the trip. Gradually it began getting brighter, and after a few mis-turns and wrong ways, they were back at the entrance of the maze, away from whatever danger lurked in the dimly lit left side.

"Davis? You can let go of my hand now." He did so, and they quickly set off on the opposite course, hoping dearly that they were out of danger. For the time being, anyway...

--------------------2: Yolei & Kari--------------------

"So, really, what was that?" Yolei questioned. Kari had known every twist, every turn, and every dead end as if she'd built the maze herself. They had yet to be stopped by any obstruction; Yolei had simply followed the strange girl's lead.

"We're almost to the center of the maze." Kari, in all seriousness, blew off the question asked to make the announcement.

"What's at the center of the maze?" Kari looked down momentarily, uncertain, then looked up into the other girl's light brown eyes. 

"I don't know." She walked on, leaving the purple haired girl behind, blinking.

"Hey! You never answered my first question!" she yelled as she ran to catch up.

Calmly making a right, then left turn, she answered, "I don't think I can tell you. I suppose you'll find out later."

Unsatisfied with the answer she received, she continued to pester the stoic girl for the next ten minutes. Finally, Kari held out an arm, catching the talking girl across the chest.

"We're here. Just around the corner is the center... What do you want to do?" 

Yolei grinned slyly before firmly planting her hands between Kari's shoulder blades. "You go first."

Kari's resistance versus Yolei's pushing caused them both to collapse as they fell around the corner. Untangling themselves, laughing, the latter finally took notice of their surroundings and gasped.

"Look at that!" What had caught her attention was the appearance of what looked to be a forest clearing, complete with a thick covering of grass and towering trees. There wasn't much light, as it was blocked by the canopy, but neither girl was sure of the source of what managed to filter down.

"Well... that's not quite I was expecting," Kari noted with a tinge of surprise in her voice. {I had thought of a trap or some kind of enemy that would appear in a video game, but not a forest.}

At that moment, what had appeared to be a shadow stepped out from behind a tree. Enclosed in darkness still, the humans couldn't see it, but it seemed oddly familiar. It was small, maybe a half foot to two feet in height, but they couldn't see well from the distance.

"I'm glad to see you made it safely. No injuries, I presume. I'm here to serve you. If you need food and shelter, you'll find it just beyond these trees along with a river in which you may bathe."

Yolei's mouth opened and closed soundlessly for a few minutes, then she managed to get out, "Where are our friends?"

"They have not yet arrived. Group one will be camped up river, three is down river. You will not be able to speak to them, though I can deliver messages to their serving digimon. Every night you will return here."

"You mean every day we have to go through the same maze?" The purple haired girl sagged in defeat; she was so tired just from walking.

"I did not say that. Just because it is in the middle of a maze now does not mean it will be there tomorrow."

Kari still couldn't figure it out. {Where do I know that digimon from? I know her, but I don't. She so familiar, yet I don't know what she is.} "Could you please step out of the shadows?"

"No." The answer was not meant to be rude, simply truthful. The truth she told was that she would not, and could not, step into the light.

Giving the enigma a large berth, the two girls went to find where they'd been staying the night.

--------------------3: Ken & Cody--------------------

Ken, leading, came upon a choice. The question was to either keep straight or to go left. He looked back, but his companion wasn't looking at him. Rather, his jade eyes were hazy, obscuring his thoughts and emotions. Ken was uncharacteristically apathetic. {His fault if he gets lost. He's not my responsibility.} But Ken knew that it was their duty to stay together.

He kept an eye on Cody as he continued going straight. A few minutes later, the path turned left to reveal a bifurcation, one way left, one right. He held his breath and turned left. 

At the end was a dead end, though it left a passage open to the right. That one turned right three times before it struck Ken that they might be going in a circle. 

"What direction did we turn last time?" He consulted the smaller boy, who shrugged nonchalantly.

"Right, I think." He didn't seem to be particularly disgusted by the unobservant qualities displayed, though he didn't seem real fond of him, either. "Aren't you supposed to be a genius?"

{Well, of course not. He hates me. I suppose I shouldn't push my luck with anymore questions.} So he didn't, and the team set off again, shrouded in silence.

There was a left turn again, and a wave of relief washed over Ken at the change in direction. That was short lived as the final right turn showed...and with it was a dead end. 

Frustration was welling up in both of them, but it was the more unlikely of the two who showed it. Angrily, Cody kicked the wall, leaving a small dent that reformed as quickly as it had appeared. He'd had no outlet of his hostility through kendo—his animosity towards having his digimon partner taken away, of being captured against his will, of his life being threatened, of not having a decent conversation in hours, and of being put with the Kaiser reject. 

Ken offered no comforting nor reassuring words. In fact, he said nothing; he did nothing but avert his eyes and continue back the way they had come. {Better he take out the frustration on his surroundings than on me.} It never occurred to him that he was part of the other boy's surroundings.

Back at the junction after seven turns, they continued straight and came to another fork. He took a step to the right, but his pace faltered. Was he losing his sense of direction? He began to go right, but that way spiraled itself into a dead end. Confused, he turned to motion to his partner to go back, but upon looking over his shoulder, he realized Cody wasn't there. Ken was alone.

He listened for the sound of retreating footsteps, but an eerie silence permeated the air. Not the uncomfortable silence that hung over the two boys who refused to speak, that was at least an acknowledging quiet; they'd had the comfort of knowing there was at least someone else there. Even though that person probably wouldn't care if they got hurt...

He ran back the way he'd come, darting down passageways and turning randomly. Feeling the panic rising within him, he considered scaling the walls, but the walls were smooth and had no places to hold. 

What was he going to do? How long could he wander aimlessly before he died? A shiver passed down his spine.

Then, faintly, he thought her heard the sound of water to his right. He turned the corner to find two paths. He took the left one, but found nothing, and sprinted back and ran down the other. The sound was getting louder, and Ken was beginning to have hope for the situation. 

A flash of color caught his eye, and he ran to catch up, hoping dearly it was friend, not foe. Again, as he rounded a curve, he caught a glimpse of what could be pink or brown. He wasn't sure. 

The running water was music to Ken's ear as he turned the last corner... and tripped over Cody. 

He'd been standing there staring off into space when he suddenly found himself on the ground, his concentration broken. Wondering what in the Digital World had happened, he looked up into violet eyes.

Cody knew without a doubt who those eyes belonged to. {Thought I'd gotten rid of him.} There was a myriad of emotions that flickered briefly across the surface of Ken's face, as though he didn't know which one to project. Eventually he settled on a nonchalant expression.

Their eye contact was cut short Ken stood and offered a hand up to the sitting boy. Surprisingly, he took it, making the owner almost fall over with the unexpected weight. (Ken remembered the last time he'd offered his hand, and had expected another what-are-you-crazy-you-insane-freak? look.)

Cody stood still and watched his partner quickly disappear around a curve at a brisk pace. When he turned the corner himself after standing in the passage for a minute, collecting his thoughts, he found himself in a clearing of a copse of trees. Noone was in sight, though footprints in the grass showed him to have dashed across to the border of trees, and presumably up to the water, which could be heard just behind the trees.

Feeling a bit more relaxed, Cody ambled across the field to the water. Doing that, however, involved walking through the trees and up a hill to where Ken was already on his knees. 

The water ran atop the hill in a fast moving stream. It was waist deep for a normal person, meaning that it would be up to Cody's neck, and he could see the small stones that made up the riverbed beneath the swift current.

Ken looked up at the new arrival for a moment. It was a fleeting glance thrown over his shoulder; no eye contact was made, then his attention was again focused upon the clear stream of water as he cupped some in his hands and splashed it into his face. 

Cody watched the kneeling figure continue until his gaze drifted upward to the dark canopy that threw shadows into the river. Who knew what was up there?

A yelp of surprise came from his right and he turned to see the gray-clad boy balancing precariously on the edge, look up at him with interest for a second, then topple off the bank into the water headfirst. 

Sharp laughter burst from the mouth of a small, black shelled digimon. It's arms and legs were covered in plates of armor the of the same color, with paws of a light gray that ended in sharp claws the color of ebony. Its bright green eyes were closed tightly while it rolled about on its domed back, revealing a white underside to its shell.

While Ken clutched the bank and sputtered indignantly, Cody kept a watchful eye on the foreign digimon and made no move to help the other boy.

"Armadillomon." His eyes narrowed in thought when the digimon straightened at its name.

"Black Armadimon, at your service." He (for both boys felt the armadillo was male) bowed politely. "Sorry, sir. I didn't mean any harm." The last comment was aimed at Ken, who had managed to get himself out of the water without Cody noticing.

"Service?" The one word question was enough for the wet boy to get his point across.

"Most definitely!" Cody noted the lack of a cowboy accent on this one. "I'm to be your server digimon. Though I might not seem helpful now, I'll sure be helpful during the later puzzles.

Four eyebrows went up, but the owner of the brown ones spoke first. "Later puzzles?"

"Of course! The one for today was simple. It wasn't even that large. One maze, six entrances, three groups. Hell!" The two boys jumped at his sudden outburst. "The one tomorrow will be harder that just avoiding Lord Zanko. Wait till tomorrow and the cleavers! Or the water torture..." At this, his eyes widened and he smacked himself in the face. 

"If she was mad at me when I delivered the message about the commencement of the project and Lord Anko's disagreement, then she'll kill me if word gets out that I leaked to the prisoners," he mumbled. Few other words reached the other two on the bank as he abruptly turned on his heel and plunged into the dense trees. 

--------------------1: Davis & T.K.--------------------

The deeper they went into the maze, the more worried each became about following each other. Davis claimed to hear water in the distance, and chased it with the fervor of an insane dog chasing a cat it couldn't see. 

"This way!" Davis yelled and his partner sighed. 

"Davis, every time you say that..." Sure enough, the dead end was right where Davis had motioned the right way was. "I'm never trusting your sense of direction ever, ever again," he said sticking his tongue out. 

"You may have to," the boy spat back in all seriousness. "I'm going to see if I can see the way out from the top."

"The top of the walls? How are you going to get up there?" he asked incredulously, only to feel a small breath of wind, and to realize that he was alone. "Davis?"

"I'm up here. You wanna come up?" T.K. followed the voice and saw the mahogany haired boy balancing dangerously on the wall about ten feet above his head. "I see the end... no, the middle of the maze a little while from here, about maybe a mile?" 

T.K. could do nothing but stare at him. "How did you do that?"

"Oh, wait. Here." He slithered off the wall and landed next to his partner, who had an eyebrow raised with apprehension. "You can either jump up the wall like this," he demonstrated by jumping up and grabbing the rim, "but it's a lot more difficult than just building up your speed by bouncing between the two walls and letting the force push you up." He demonstrated that too.

"I rue anybody who called you stupid." T.K. shook his head sadly. "Who else could have figured that out? Do you use that skill during soccer?" 

"Can't. I noticed it only works in the Digital World." 

The blonde was going to remark on how that stank when he noticed the boy was gone again. Instinctively he looked around, then what they had been talking about thrust itself in his face and he looked up. "Hey! Wait for me!"

Davis gave an exasperated look to him as he climbed the wall, and set off with the taller boy struggling behind him to stay on balance. He himself walked with an air of indifference with his arms behind his head and swinging his legs like it were the easiest thing in the DigiWorld.

Half an hour later, T.K. still hadn't gotten used to it, and Davis was considering leaving him behind (not really, it was just a motivation to keep him moving). 

"How much longer?" He called to the brunette, a considerable distance ahead of him. 

"Not much farther."

"That's what he said fifteen minutes ago," he grumbled as he quickly caught up and jumped to the other wall of the passage, something that no longer caused him to fall like it did the first few times. 

Suddenly, Davis jumped down and disappeared. Temporarily, T.K. was left alone on the wall until something grabbed at his ankle, breaking what balance he'd retained. He flipped off the wall and landed in a crouch. 

"Sorry. I was just trying to get your attention." Davis apologized, which was an oddity in itself. "You have good reflexes." 

He grabbed the chestnut haired boy by the shoulders. "What have you done with Davis?" He demanded, until a thought occurred to him. He let go. "Never mind. What ever you've done with him, I like you better, even if you're an invading alien or something."

Davis stared at him for a second, then shook his head violently. "And you thought _I_ was crazy!" He turned around and marched through the nearest doorway. "Come on, you weirdo." T.K. shrugged and followed him into the clearing of the forest. 

He blinked, spun around, and looked to where he just been, but the white walls of the maze were gone, replaced by an impenetrable line of trees. 

"Where are we?"

"I don't know; we're here," Davis replied, having already crossed half of the field. 

{Well, he's a lot of help.} A flapping noise brought him back to reality. He looked around for the source, but saw nothing. Something landed on his head. "Hey!" He started, tilting his head back until his hat fell off. 

A loud "oomph" was heard as the hat fell to the ground. He picked it up, revealing the digimon beneath. 

It had dark purplish-black wings that stuck out from its head, and a cream colored underbelly. T.K. knew exactly who it was. Or he thought he knew.

"Patamon?"

It opened a lemon colored eye, and stretched. "Um, no. Try again." 

Without a doubt, the blonde knew that it wasn't his partner. Patamon didn't have yellow eyes, or a deep voice. "Who are you?"

"Tsukaimon. Pleased to meet you. Group one is the last to arrive, so I need to report in to the rest of the servers. You ought to go to the river; it's right over there within convenient walking distance. This is also where you'll be staying the night every night until the Lords feel that you've passed the test. So get comfortable." With that, the small digimon flew off, and left a very confused T.K. to stare at the retreating figure, then follow Davis into the trees. 

++++++++++++

Author's note: Whee! Finally finished! I'm glad to see that this crappy, crappy chapter is finished. No notes from Daiko and P-Kaal, either. I threw them out. (Lame excuse: my muses were gone and I couldn't write without them.)

P-Kaal: Actually, we're over here eating cookies. 

*ignores them* My internet connection is f***ed up, so I'll take DRASTIC MEASURES! and just post them at school. And does anyone know how much trouble I went through trying to find 

Yolei's eye color (Is it red, yellow, brown, light brown? It's the latter, but I didn't know that).

A virus version of Armadillomon (finally, I just made up Black Armadimon, and the name difference will be explained later).

Whether Patamon has fur.

Actually, I only figured out no. 1. I just compensated for the others.


	4. Chapter 3 - Nighttime Revelations

I feel like there's nothing to say here. But if you're still reading, I'd gladly hug you.  
  
Note: {braces} indicate thinking. Black Armadimon is mine; I made him and the bad guys up, and you'll find out who they are soon enough. So there. Everyone else is copyright...some high and mighty people.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Nighttime Revelations  
  
There was only silence in the room as she quietly watched the multiple screens. Each camera represented a Digidestined, but her watchful eyes only darted back and forth from screens 3a and 3b.  
  
On 1a, a boy was shown laying in a sleeping bag. The same was on 1b, but the boy had blond hair instead of auburn. Identical shots were on 2a and 2b: girls swimming and playing in the river. The two screens she watched projected only the image of one boy each; a blunet taking a bath in the same river being used by group two, and a brunet struggling to climb a tree. The latter was having a horrendous time; when he finally got a good hold on a limb, he would swing his legs in a futile attempt to get them around the tree. Eventually, he'd loosen his grip on the branch, and he' d drop to the ground thoroughly frustrated.  
  
So engrossed in her observations, she didn't notice the sound of a door opening behind her.  
  
"So, how are the groups doing?" She started at the sound of his voice, and gave him a withering stare at being caught off guard.  
  
"Fine. No loss of life, no injuries. Group one was last to come in, and two had a natural advantage because of the brunette and her powers. The members of one don't understand how similar they are. Group two is, of course, our default group, and is cooperating nicely. Three... well, they hate each other." Somehow, the darkness failed to darken the highlights in the bright red of her hair; though he knew the darkness within her heart could consume her entirely.  
  
He sighed. "They will all have a natural advantage when we're done with them. And it's because you couldn't find some regular subjects for this project--"  
  
"No, it's not," she interrupted, "I had orders from a higher authority."  
  
Raising an eyebrow, he tilted his head and reared up on his hind legs. "A higher authority than me?"  
  
She walked over to a spot on the floor and indicated a small, round metal circle. She tapped it with a fingernail. "Yes, higher than you." He went back down on all fours.  
  
She sat back down and absentmindedly ran a hand through his cobalt blue hair. "Continue to monitor them and their watching digimon. We can't afford any mutiny if it was authorized by him." His tone made her narrow her eyes.  
  
"Don't worry." She uttered a low, condescending chuckle, not for the first time, nor for the last. "Tsukai is underground and Armadi is in a tree, and we both know Gato is loyal. And I'll pay special attention to group three."  
  
"Why three?"  
  
She smiled, giving him the picture of a crocodile trying to be sweet. "There is the most enmity between them. One has felt the caress of evil before, and one is young, and easy to corrupt. They are the most promising."  
  
"They might also be the strongest. Watch them closely." She nodded at his command and watched him turn to leave. "Oh," he said as an afterthought, "those might be the ones we're looking for." He left.  
  
As the door closed behind him, she could only smile and mutter, "Yes, brother."  
  
Minutes passed after he left. A low buzzing sound snatched her attention away from the screens and to the small metal pedestal she'd indicated earlier. Even as the rainbow colors swirled around the holographic image forming, she was sitting at attention before it.  
  
"Sir?" She spoke to the picture first, and it acknowledged her presence with a slight tilt of the head.  
  
"Everything is going as planned? The training starts tomorrow morning, correct?"  
  
"Yes, sir. They all made it through the maze, and two have begun to show signs of powers."  
  
"Which ones?" The image fizzled and went out of focus, and she hoped he wouldn't go out before she could report her findings.  
  
"2b and 3b. Each showed heightened mental prowess."  
  
"For example?"  
  
"3b has begun the use of teleportation, but cannot control it and there is a gap between his disappearance and reappearance. 2b..." she trailed off, unsure of what to say.  
  
"What about her?" The image blurred again, and she snapped back to reality as she struggled to put her thoughts into coherent sentences.  
  
"2b has found the use of psychic directional abilities and is able to control them."  
  
The hologram mused for a moment over the words. "I expected something far more powerful from her, having been around so long; having harnessed her powers early on..." He sighed and shrugged his hunched shoulders. "Will that be all?"  
  
"Yes, sir. We have consulted, and we are doing the best we can."  
  
The image smiled in appreciation. "That will be all, then." The picture went hazy one more time before blinking out completely, leaving the digimon alone in the darkness, her only company the screens.  
  
--------------------1: Davis & T.K.--------------------  
  
After Tsukaimon had been gone for half an hour, Davis heard the sound of beating wings approaching. As the small digimon had suggested, T.K. had joined up with his partner, and they found the small hole in the ground that they were to sleep in. Literally.  
  
Davis had slid down into the hole at the same time that the blond had been cautious that they were falling into a trap. It wasn't a trap, but a tunnel that lead to a large oval room underground. A small fire burned steadily in the center, controlled only by a small ring of stones.  
  
Suspicious as it had seemed, the pair had no choice, but to settle down into the sleeping bags that had been set down, one on each side of the fire. They both were staring at the dirt that formed the ceiling when Tsukaimon walked into the room. T.K. noted that he was more accustomed to walking compared to Patamon.  
  
"Good news. All of the groups members have survived. No injuries, either, I believe."  
  
"That means that Kari and Ken are safe!" Davis punched a fist into the air.  
  
"What about Yolei and Cody?" T.K. turned to his roommate in question.  
  
"Cody is easily forgettable sometimes," T.K. made an indignant sound in his throat, "and Yolei is the kind of girl that you want to forget sometimes."  
  
T.K. couldn't help but voice his opinion on Davis's comments. "You sure speak highly of your teammates." The oblivious boy kept talking.  
  
"You're my only teammate. If everyone is okay, then where are they?" Davis was now sitting up, and paying more attention to the speaking digimon than he ever did to his teachers.  
  
"Each group has its own segment of the river downstream." He glared at the auburn haired boy, who'd opened his mouth as if to speak. "No, it is not possible to make contact with the other groups. For as long as you stay here, you will have contact with only him," Tsukaimon motioned to the other boy in the room, "me, and anything that you might encounter during the danger segments."  
  
Davis flopped facedown into his sleeping bag and scoffed while T.K. continued talking to the digimon.  
  
"Danger segments? This whole thing isn't going to be mazes?"  
  
"No. Today was just a warm up, to eliminate the weakest members," He explained. "The maze you went through had no end, and if a group hadn't found the designated area, then they would have been left wandering in the maze until they died." T.K. shuddered at the thought. "Or perhaps they would have been rescued, but the former seems more plausible."  
  
Soft snores were coming from Davis's side of the fire.  
  
What's our next danger segment? I mean, I want to know so I'll be ready."  
  
Tsukaimon shook his head. "I'm not authorized to tell you that."  
  
"Who would care? We have to face it anyway, and there's no real way I can prepare for it."  
  
A sigh came from the shadows of the fire as the digimon moved towards him. He reemerged in the firelight, the red reflecting in his pale eyes that gleamed like beacons in his face. "I don't know what the next segment is."  
  
"Liar."  
  
"What?" Tsukaimon's head shot up.  
  
"You're lying. I can tell."  
  
The digimon stomped up onto T.K.'s sleeping bag and hovered in front of his face.  
  
"Listen, buddy. One attack from me could take you out. I suggest that you don't mess wi—"  
  
"Just tell him already. He'll probably pin your little winged head to the wall and strangle you if you don't. I know he tried his savage tactics on me." The muffled voice was coming from the opposite side of the fire where, to all appearances, Davis was asleep.  
  
The purplish-black digimon mumbled something about respect under his breath. "Very well. But if you end up with a Bakemon tomorrow because I've been reformatted, then remember that it was all your fault." He paused for dramatic effect, and T.K. crossed his arms impatiently. "It's most likely the corridor."  
  
"Not the corridor of horror!" Both other occupants turned and stared at Davis, whom the sarcastic cry of terror had come from. A brown eye turned to look at them from the sleeping bag from underneath a tangled mat of hair, and a grin spread across his face. "So what's the hype?"  
  
"All I can tell you is that it's highly dangerous. Truthfully," One yellow eye glared at T.K., "I don't know anything else about it."  
  
"So we're facing, what, the hallway of doom?"  
  
"Davis, don't take this subject lightly!" Tsukaimon snapped.  
  
"Too late," T.K. noted with an air of exasperation. He put his head back down on the pillow.  
  
The winged digimon flew to a previously unnoticed hole in the wall. From his own small sanctuary, his vice carried out into the main area, "...and you two stink. Take a bath when you get up in the morning."  
  
--------------------2: Yolei & Kari--------------------  
  
Similar to group one, the girls had found their sleeping bags next to the fire. Unlike group one, the were more conscious of their personal hygiene.  
  
So much time had been wasted by them, splashing around in the water, that it had already begun to get dark when they finally got out. Kari was only half surprised to see, upon her return to the riverbank, both pairs of clothes stretched out on the grass. All articles of clothing had been cleaned, and all of her electronic equipment was beside it, her digital camera, D-terminal, and D-3, which was beeping madly.  
  
Gingerly, she picked it up and examined it. She hardly noticed Yolei come up behind her and get dressed. The purple haired girl had stood and stared over her shoulder for a full five minutes before she even realized she was there.  
  
"What's so fascinating?"  
  
Kari jumped. "Huh?" She looked at her partner, who was standing beside her with an eyebrow raised. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you."  
  
"I noticed." Yolei tossed Kari her clean clothes. The latter blushed when she realized that she'd been standing wearing nothing but the thin towels provided by the digimon that was watching them, even now, from the shadows.  
  
In a few minutes, they were both sitting in the small ring of trees that encased their sleeping bags and their fire, studying the frantic beeping of Kari's D-3.  
  
"Do you need any help?" Their heads bowed low, both girls had failed to hear the digimon's footsteps, and were shocked at the low voice so close to their ears.  
  
Kari turned her head and looked straight into the deep saffron eyes of her digimon's exact copy. "Gatomon?"  
  
The yellow eyes went hazy for a second and she sighed sadly. "No, I'm Black Gatomon, but you can call me Gatomon if you wish. Your Gatomon is fine, I'm sure she sends her regards, if she hasn't changed. I knew her well..."  
  
The two girls exchanged looks of confusion and sympathy.  
  
"She arrived one day, dropped out of the sky, really, in the same Nyaromon colony I was living in. Immediately I took to her, and we became almost like sisters, inseparable. She always used to talk of searching for someone... but couldn't say who. I set out with her when we both became Salamon; two digivolving at the same time was a rarity, but we'd always shared a bond that was unable to be broken. Or so we thought.  
  
"I always wanted to be there for her, but we were separated during a snowstorm. I suppose she met Myotismon around the same time I met Lord Ankomon. But while I was given love, support, and a family, she became nothing but a heartless slave to her master.  
  
"I know she finally found who she was looking for," She touched Kari's face with a purple glove, "but I was unable to find her all these years due to my lack of contact to the outside world. Now I'm almost afraid to see her. I've changed so much; I've become the virus to her vaccine..."  
  
The cat blinked and her eyes refocused. "I'm sure that it has been wiped from her memory and from the annals of Digi History. Sorry. Did you need help with your D-3?"  
  
Yolei and Kari looked at it, realizing that it had continued to beep all through Black Gatomon's anecdote.  
  
"Yeah, It's beeping and we can't stop it." Yolei passed it to the cat, who tinkered with it for a few moments. As soon as her paws touched it, two lights lit up on the screen. She held it out in front of her like a metal detector and scanned the area. Two more dots appeared when she moved it, but upon returning to its original position, only one bright and one dim light could be seen.  
  
"Okay. Here." Black Gatomon handed the mechanism to Kari and gestured with a long black claw. "This light is me." She pointed to a white dot. "This one," she pointed to a dim red one, "is Yolei."  
  
"How come I'm not on there? " Kari asked, pouting slightly.  
  
Gatomon shook her head. "Inside this castle, your D-3s will only react to Digimon."  
  
Kari began to nod, then stopped. "Wait. Why is she on there?"  
  
Yolei watched with increasing worry as the black cat grinned mischievously.  
  
Her bright eyes dimmed as she narrowed her eyes into characteristically cat- like slits. "Are you sure you want to know?"  
  
Both girls nodded. She sighed.  
  
"Well, some years back, about thirteen, a very famous scientist created a cross between digimon and humans."  
  
Kari turned to Yolei. "Her?"  
  
"Yes. Miyako was the first Digihumon in existence, though you should not have had any reasons to suspect," Gatomon responded.  
  
Kari thought for a minute, trying to organize the thoughts in her head. "Who is Miyako, who was the scientist, what's a Digihumon, why doesn't she look like a digimon, how many Digihumons are there, and is Digihumons a word?"  
  
"Miyako is her first name, you'll find out soon enough, a Digihumon is a cross between a human and a digimon (I said that already), she doesn't look like a digimon because she isn't one, there are six I think, and no, the plural of Digihumon is Digihumon," Gatomon answered as if reading off a script.  
  
"What do you mean she isn't a digimon? I thought you said—"  
  
"I said Digihumon, not digimon. It's a digimon infused with human DNA. A few specimens of humans infused with digital data were produced, or so I heard, but there's no proof. She's a Digihumon, alright. Miyako has begun her awakening."  
  
After a moment of quiet thinking, Kari turned to Yolei and mustered the best smile she could. "That's so cool! I guess this means that you'll have all kinds of powers and stuff!"  
  
The purple haired girl, who had looked worried for the previous ten minutes, suddenly brightened at the prospect. "I guess you're right."  
  
Black Gatomon nodded encouragingly and extended a paw towards the red and purple sleeping bags. "Get some sleep you two. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."  
  
--------------------3: Ken & Cody--------------------  
  
Cody was still fighting a losing battle with the tree when Ken appeared behind him, blue-violet hair wet from the river. The tree itself was a large sturdy type, with a large platform mounted near the top, though still within the strong section of the limbs. An upside-down fire hung from a parallel scaffold above their own.  
  
"Your turn." They had made a silent agreement that they would take turns washing, and Ken had been gone for around fifteen minutes. Black Armadimon hadn't come back since he'd gone off muttering to himself in the underbrush.  
  
Cody made a noise that sounded something like "okay, whatever" and dropped from the branch. He walked up the hill, and stood before the river. It was already getting dark, and he figured he had about twenty minutes until dusk, or whatever it was in the synthetic holding cell.  
  
He found the shallowest part of the river, shed his outfit, and slipped in; expecting the water to be as frigid as it looked. In actuality, it was quite warm.  
  
Cody closed his eyes and ducked under the water, something he would never have done had it not been for Submarimon and the reassuring stones beneath his feet. He swam for a few more minutes, always in the shallow area, then got out of the river.  
  
Ken had gotten the concept of climbing trees fairly quickly, and was already in the uppermost branches when the brunet returned. The latter was dismayed to see that he still had yet to master climbing the tall tree, and stood at the base contemplating what to do.  
  
Unlike regular trees in the real world, digital trees didn't rain bark when disturbed because their structure didn't allow it. That's why Cody didn't notice Ken until the boy was practically in front of him, hanging by his knees upended above him.  
  
"Need a hand?"  
  
Large green eyes looked up at him in confusion. "What?"  
  
Ken tried again. "Do you need help up?" {We may not be the best of friends, but my survival depends on him. I might as well make the most of the situation.}  
  
The intense scrutinizing glare was beginning to bother him; the way Cody stared with unwavering distrust. Finally, as if he had been defeated in a game of wits, Cody lowered his head. "Sure."  
  
Ken righted himself so that the blood was no longer rushing to his head. "Go ahead and reach up to the first limb, then I can pull you up from there."  
  
The brunet did so wordlessly, only pausing to look up at his partner when he was dangling a foot off the ground. Ken, having moved down to the same bough, straddled it, and gripped him by the lower arms.  
  
He pulled the dangling boy up into the leafy canopy. From there on, the branches came in smaller intervals and the pair worked on their own to get to the top.  
  
"Glad to see you could make it," Said a fairly familiar voice as both boys slung themselves up onto the platform, "I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't make it." The black armadillo looked straight at Cody.  
  
The boy busied himself with the sleeping bag nearest to him and didn't say a word.  
  
"Mighty unresponsive partner you've got there," muttered the digimon to Ken, thumbing a claw over his shoulder.  
  
Ken shrugged. "He doesn't argue much."  
  
--------------------1: Davis & T.K.--------------------  
  
The loud snoring from the opposite side of the room roused him from a light sleep, the result of having spent many nights in the Digital World, no matter how long ago.  
  
Upon checking the fire, T.K. noticed that the flame had yet to even diminish in size. Remembering the last words of Tsukaimon, he got out of his pale green sleeping bag. Strangely, it was still dark outside, and no hints of the redeeming light of dawn showed. A light fog swirled around his knees as he walked to the water's edge.  
  
Meanwhile, Tsukaimon finally folded his wings out of the cramped position they'd been in before, protecting his ears from the loud snoring of Davis. The auburn-haired human slowly yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes.  
  
After managing to get ungracefully untangled from his blue sleeping bag only by firelight, frustration, and perseverance, some sort of minimal observational qualities kicked in.  
  
The fire gave no smoke. Of course if it did, they would have all died of asphyxiation overnight. Wondering, he stretched out an arm toward the flame, expecting heat. There was some, but not enough to be a regular fire. With this newfound revelation, Davis thrust his entire arm into it. It tickled, like standing in front of a microwave.  
  
Dimly aware that he was indeed alone in the ovoid room, he briefly wondered what could have happened to his partner.  
  
"He went to the river." The voice came from the shadows of the small alcove above his head. Looking up, Davis discovered a luminescent eye staring at him.  
  
With a yelp, he leapt backwards into the fire before he realized it was only the pesky Tsukaimon.  
  
"Don't do that," Davis grumbled, waving a hand to settle the dust he'd stirred up.  
  
"I have to. My job would be no fun if I wasn't allowed to scare the subjects once in a while."  
  
"Do it when I'm not around." With that, he slouched outside.  
  
Behind him, he heard the bat muttering to himself, but ignored it. He stopped, though, when the mist swirled around his knees. {There's something wrong. This isn't normal fog...} His thoughts of the abnormality were pushed aside as he continued to the river.  
  
T.K. was swimming lazily, thinking about how something as dangerous as being captured by the enemy was turning out to be incredibly uneventful.  
  
"BonzaI!" A splash followed, along with a small wave that swept over his head.  
  
He sunk up to his neck in the river at seeing his cannonball-inducing partner. "Davis, you idiot!"  
  
"Oh please. We're all guys here. Besides, it takes up less time if we take a bath together." His goggles were flipped down over his eyes to keep the water out, strangely and finally having a purpose.  
  
T.K. grumbled something under his breath, but didn't stand up. He turned around and swam away, his intentions not to return.  
  
"Get back here!" rang out as he was suddenly jerked to a stop. "You aren't going anywhere, T.H." The death-grip that Davis had on his hair prevented him from leaving, no matter how much he wanted to get away.  
  
"Could you at least let go of my hair, you uncivilized bastard?" Davis did. T.K. blinked in amazement. "You can obey orders! Can you do any other tricks, boy?" The subject sighed.  
  
"You really could have avoided this, T.K." He backhanded the blond across the face. "Now stay here. I want you to stay in my field of vision."  
  
T.K. rubbed the sore spot-turning-bruise that was rising on his cheek in the shape of a handprint. {What an ass.} Muttering death threats under his breath helped cool T.K. down, so that by the time that they were getting out, he didn't feel nearly as angry.  
  
"Why did you have to grab my hair, though?"  
  
"You didn't have a shirt on," was Davis' reply as he energetically jumped out of the river. Something caught T.K.'s eye, though, a flash of something just below the other boy's lower back.  
  
Blinking water from his eyes, he wondered if it was an illusion. A brief glimpse again proved him to be correct in thinking there was something there. "Hey, Davis, what's that?"  
  
"Nothing." He grabbed the towels laying by his clothes and wrapped one around his waist and the other around his hair.  
  
"But it looks like—"  
  
"I know what it looks like."  
  
Getting tired of the indistinct answers, he jumped to his point. "Do you have a tail?"  
  
"NO, I DON'T HAVE A TAIL!" Flipping up his goggles and throwing his clothes on, he stomped back to the primitive hole they were housed in, utterly sickened.  
  
Frustrated, the chosen of Hope was beginning to think that there was no hope for either Davis or the situation. "Sometimes, you gotta wonder about that kid. Is he PMSing?" In retrospect, he decided that the tail wasn't what he should have been looking for.  
  
Ten minutes later, he was back in the room, still having arguing with the russet-haired enigma named Davis.  
  
"Is it a tattoo?"  
  
"No."  
  
"...A stick that got lodged in your back?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Your vertebrae?"  
  
"No."  
  
"A tail?"  
  
"Damn it! No!"  
  
"Let me see it."  
  
"No, no, no, no, no!"  
  
"I can help."  
  
"No you can't!"  
  
"You'll never know until you let me try."  
  
"I'm willing to take that risk."  
  
Whether it was the anger or the distress in the boy's voice, T.K. felt compelled to find out; that it was the key to the whole mystery that they were living. The basketball player was easily the stronger of the two in the arms, and with a well placed punch and a rip of the bright red and blue bomber jacket, Davis was facedown in his sleeping bag with his arms twisted behind his head and a green boot on his back.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Find out yourself!" was the muffled answer as the supine teen sought alternate breathing methods.  
  
With a disgusted grimace, he shrank back. "Ugh. Perverted sicko." T.K. no longer had any interest in finding out what it was, thanks to the appealing comments made by the boy beneath his shoes. There was no way even if he did want to know.  
  
"Do you two even realize how this looks? How very, very wrong it looks, may I add?" Both boys twisted towards the voice, but saw nothing.  
  
Davis wrenched his arms from the grasp of his assailant without the other noticing or caring. "Tsukaimon?"  
  
"Down here, you idiots. In the ball."  
  
Something clunked softly against T.K.'s shoe, and he looked down. A cream- colored glass sphere settled softly in the folds of the sleeping bag, and within it was a fairly irritated digimon. "I'm just not going to ask what was going on in here, but it looked like something that I shouldn't have intruded in on..."  
  
Davis picked up the orb. "Why are you in there?" He peered inside.  
  
"Because I'm not allowed to help you physically during the danger segments, but I can help you verbally; though since I don't know much, I won't be of much assistance." He threw a nasty look at T.K. "It's time for you to go. You'll have to carry me."  
  
"What do we do?" Davis asked.  
  
"Just go outside. You'll be transported from there."  
  
T.K. and Davis looked at each other, looked at Tsukaimon, and looked at each other again.  
  
The latter stood up, brushed off his clothes, and put on his jacket while his partner walked outside, having taken the enclosed digimon.  
  
"This fog..." T.K. murmured, Davis coming to stand beside him, "its not natural fog. Its distorting time and space. I can feel it." Davis stared at him.  
  
"Hold on, you two. It's going to be an uncomfortable ride," came the small voice from the orb. A feeling of slight nausea washed over them, and they shut their eyes tightly. As every molecule of their bodies became slightly rearranged and pulled apart, Davis could only think of how hungry he was.  
  
--------------------2: Yolei & Kari--------------------  
  
Yawning, Yolei opened her eyes and groped around for the glasses that were beside her. She put them on to find Kari speaking to herself in soft tones not too far from her.  
  
Kari turned. "You're awake! Good. It's almost time for us to leave."  
  
"Leave?" Yolei questioned, still groggy. "Where are we going?"  
  
"It's your first danger segment. You'll find out where you're going when you get there." The disembodied voice seemed to come directly from the brunette's cupped hands.  
  
Kari pulled apart her palms to reveal a milky white globe the size of her hand. Within it was a miniature version of Black Gatomon, the obvious source of the sound.  
  
Within an instant, Yolei was up. "Danger!? We don't have to do this, do we? Death during detainment is optional, right?"  
  
The small figure shook her head. "Insubordination is worse than doing the test. At least with the segment you have a chance to survive."  
  
"A chance?" Yolei wailed in horror. "We're going to die!" Without setting down the sphere, Kari moved to put an arm around her distraught partner.  
  
"It's going to be alright," She said in a calm voice, "remember the power within. We can persevere. The Digidestined always come out on top!" She winked at the older girl, who wiped her face and cleared her eyes. "We're the chosen ones!"  
  
"Yeah," Yolei sputtered back, stronger, though still unconvinced.  
  
"It's time..." The matter-of-fact comment came from Black Gatomon, whom the girls had temporarily forgotten. "You must leave. Now!"  
  
The mist swirled around their waists in a way that reminded Kari of when Mimi was sucked into her digivice. It was so thick that it seemed that its origin had overflowed its banks to come splashing down to drown them all.  
  
{Putting my trust into a cat. I've done it before, why not now?} Kari inhaled deeply, and everything went black.  
  
--------------------3: Ken & Cody--------------------  
  
Panicked cries awoke Ken, muffled as they were. Screams would wake him at anytime, he knew, because of what he'd been through. Wearily, he rolled over, looking for the source. Of course, they had a predictable inception: the only other human inhabitant of the entire area.  
  
Despite the minimal size of the platform they were housed on, Cody was rapidly scooting backwards, closer to the edge. He hadn't even bothered to stand up; he had flung his yellow sleeping bag off with his feet.  
  
Ken swiftly looked around for any intruders, but found nothing out of the ordinary. In a moment, he scurried over to his partner's side. "What is it?"  
  
"It's getting closer!" Was all the younger boy could say.  
  
"What is?"  
  
"I don't know!"  
  
The clearing of a throat was heard. "I do. Excuse me, can I get a hand here?"  
  
Cody temporarily forgot his terror as he looked down to find a small semi- translucent spheroid. It happened to contain an armadillo. Confused, he picked it up and held it to his face. "What are you doing in there?"  
  
Both boys peered inside as the digimon snorted. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm sitting down." He paused, lifted a claw, and tapped the shell that encircled him. "I told you that I'd be useful at a later time. That time is now."  
  
Suddenly remembering, Cody looked around nervously. "It's getting closer, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Ken stared back and forth between the ball and the sober child holding it, wondering what was going on. "What exactly is going on here?"  
  
"This morning," the boy began, not glancing up, "something woke me up. A feeling, but I'm not sure what. There were these small wisps of fog that came over the edge of the platform, and they...they wanted to take me," he finished lamely, no better words coming to mind.  
  
"Where?" the blunet asked, hoping to coax more information out of him.  
  
"It doesn't matter where!" Black Armadimon snapped, becoming impatient. "That fog is your only mode of transportation!" He took a deep breath. "Now, you two need to get down to ground level. It's time to go."  
  
"Go? Cody asked, alarm entering his voice again, "Go where?"  
  
"You'll see when you get there," was the gruff reply. Black Armadimon promptly put his head down and dozed off.  
  
Ken and Cody looked up at each other, down at the digimon, back up at each other, and sighed in unison.  
  
The keeper of Kindness was the first to move, slipping gracefully off the stage to move through the branches with ease and land simply on the ground in just under twenty seconds. Cody had more trouble finding foot holds on the mist-wetted branches. He could barely see the ground as the haze floated below.  
  
About halfway down, he lost his grip on the limb above him, along with his balance. That same disturbing haze rushed up to meet him with a frightening quickness as everything blurred and he fell. Serendipity was on his side, though, as she never had been before. He never hit the ground.  
  
--------------------  
  
Author's notes: Okay. Next chapter will be a while in coming out, as I need to fine-tune some things.  
  
Daiko: This means that she needs to actually write out the plot.  
  
Well, yes... that too. But there are a lot of things that come to mind as I'm writing the story.  
  
P-Kaal: It's totally improvised. She knows where the story needs to go, but she doesn't have the details that get it there.  
  
Shut up you two. I know what I'm doing... sorta... I have character pictures and profiles on the bad guys. Well, not the boss of the operation, just the two digimon from the beginning. I love those guys. If you want some pictures (warning: spoilers) you'll have to ask. Specifics only please- give a name or description (ex: the girl digimon from the beginning. Or Miyako's digimon form *giggle*.)  
  
Daiko: She also is currently designing the new crests. Urk!  
  
*snatches Daiko by throat* Shut up you moron!  
  
P-Kaal: You two gonna go at it all day, or can I have my boyfriend back?  
  
*pushes Daiko towards him* Take him. Now, back to the matter at hand. I don't know why I write so much about T.K. and Davis, and so little about the others. Since I have a super-genius friend named Ken (no joke—freshmen shouldn't be in calculus and advanced physics), you'd think that I'd have fun manipulating them to my whim... and I am *evil smile*. Bwahahaha! Expect very detailed violence along with creepy undertones (or overtones, for that matter).  
  
Daiko: Hey P, you going to stop her before she gets out of control?  
  
P-Kaal: Absolutely not. I'm not going anywhere near that crazed maniac.  
  
When I posted this, I had approx. 9 reviews. I'm guessing that this means that my stories stink like crap? Thanks to all the people that have read it so far. I love you. So review, or the mighty Windex© will smite you! And I won't post the next chapter! And you won't find out what little Cody fell into! And you won't find out who dies! *malicious laughter* And you won't find out Miyako's power! Actually, you won't find out anything! You'll get nothing if you don't review! Tell your friends about this story and get them to review too! I'm a feedback slut, if you haven't noticed.  
  
Daiko & P-Kaal: *sweatdrop* just make her stop talking, please! 


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